In concrete terms, the methodology applied starts from the analysis of case studies (from a wide geographic arc – Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America) transformed into new memory tourism destinations but with a specific geographical axis: São Tomé e Príncipe, Mozambique, Kenya, Zanzibar, Muscat, Goa, Malacca, Macau, Japan, Timor and Brazil, connecting them with the postcolonial tourism dynamic. These case studies will be transformed in practical terms into a Portuguese (Historical-Colonial) Memory Tourism Route whose importance is linked in dialogue with each of the listed destinations, that is, bilaterally, prompting an effective cultural exchange. It is therefore an Alliance Route that is defined using a bifocal and not a univocal process with a view to greater mutual understanding and the divulgation of a bipolar history where there is convergence and fusion of knowledge in a comprehensive range of cultures. The innovative aspect of the research is that the main focus is centred on study of the Portuguese empire. However, it will also consider parallel geographical universes with similar imperial histories since they share a similar form of tourism and will be presented as a structuring theme of contemporary culture.

Spatially, the methodology starts from the deconstruction of Eurocentric – or rather, West-centric – genealogies since postcolonial thought has restored the notion of cross-border plurality. Thus a wider group of interlocutors and collaborators (academics and civil society) has been included coming from distinct but complementary disciplinary and discursive resources (history, political science, geography, anthropology, sociology, visual culture and history of mentalities), all with proven credibility and reliability, drawing and mediating a specific reality and responding to an issue that now appears on international political agendas. This all translates into a pluri- and interdisciplinary project that aims to result in trans- and poly-disciplinary knowledge.